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Yulparija show their colours

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Donald Moko, Mary Meribida and Weaver Jack in Melbourne for the show at William Mora Galleries.Picture:Serge Thomann

On their first trip to the east, artists from Bidyadana, south of Broome, are showing work about the "nikety nik" times, writes Ashley Crawford.

He calls them the "nudie times". Or, in his language, they were nikety nik: "That painting there, that tells a story from the nikety nik times," Donald Moko says with an almost embarrassed chuckle, referring to the time before the white man, when Moko's people, the Yulparija, had little use for clothing. The Yulparija were among the last of the Aboriginal people to encounter the white man.

Moko has just visited Melbourne with his wife, artist Mary Meribida and painter Weaver Jack.

This is the first showing in the eastern states of work from Bidyadana, a coastal town 250 kilometres south of Broome, and the traditional land of the Karrajarri. Curator of Aboriginal art at the National Gallery of Victoria, Judith Ryan, has acquired a number of works from the Bidyadana group.

"They are elders who have been exiled from their own country a long time ago," she says. "But they still have an amazingly strong cultural memory which comes out in the extraordinary colours and with this incredible exuberance and spontaneity."

When Moko fell in love with Meribida it was the beginning of an arduous rite of passage. They had contravened a tribal law and, in the process, Moko lost an eye and had his hamstrings cut. He moves slowly, loudly grinding his teeth and clutching a well-worn hand-made walking stick. While Moko may be showing his age, his paintings most definitely do not. Like those of his fellow Yulparija artists, these are bright, exuberant canvases. But, despite the colour, there are some dark themes, some to do with the environment after the white man appeared.

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"That painting, the karitya (white man) came and dug big holes and that country is finished now," Moko says, pointing to a large canvas called Jindu. "All the yintu (water) are finished now. That country is no good, not anymore.

"This country was jindu, creek country. It was a special place where Yakarn (the moon man) came down."

Weaver Jack describes how the women would dig for water, singing the water from the underground creeks: "We'd sing 'em up. No more."

These paintings refer to the Telfer end of their country, which is closest to the Pilbara mining operations that have devastated the landscape. In the "nudie times", the lands of the Yulparija extended from Telfer in the south to Kintore in the east and Fitzroy Crossing in the north.

In another of Moko's canvases, he depicts the land around Ulara, a big watering hole riddled with pockets of quicksand.

"We'd walk all around him, but not through him," he says. "The karitya mob finish off that water, too," he adds with a grimace.

There is no way of knowing what year Moko was born, but estimates put him at about 50 years old when he first encountered Europeans, walking into Anna Creek as rumours of sugar, flour and tea circulated among the desert Aborigines.

For many years, Bidyadanga was known as La Grange Station and operated as a telegraph post for the surrounding stations. In the 1970s, the station was taken over by the Catholic Church, which ran it as a mission.

The introduction of the equal pay decision in the 1970s resulted in many Aboriginal people being forced from their traditional country by station owners and into the missions. This was when many of the Yulparija people came to Bidyadanga, which is on Karrajarri land.

When the Karrajarri returned to their land last year, many of the elders began thinking about the fact that their grandchildren will never know their country as they had.

This led to their desire to record the country in painting, combining their intimate knowledge of the desert landscape with the rich colours of the saltwater country.

New Paintings from Bidyadanga, William Mora Galleries, in association with Short St Gallery, Broom, Richmond, until April 24.